The Valve Console will Severely cut Microsoft’s Next Generation Console and game Sales

Gabe Newell has announced that Valve will be jumping into the console wars next year, with console built for living rooms. This machine is to directly challenge Microsoft and Sony’s next generation consoles. With Valve creating a console, there will be major repercussions throughout the industry. Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo will all be affected one way or another. We think that Microsoft will ultimately lose the most sales for a variety of reasons. Hit the link to find out why. And Please comment on what you think.

one advantage that Steam could have with 3rd party publishers is that it takes less royalties from them.

if I get this right Valve only takes a stake in games as a retailer, while with console games the platform holders take about 12$ and the retailers also take 12$, leaving only 36$ fro publishers and developers. so with steam they can have as much as 48$ per 60$ game.

The Library is the big thing. If they can add console style controls to even 1/2 the PC games they offer, they will have a library larger than any of their competitors right off the bat that is friendly to a console audience. That's the big coup. And it works for people like me that have a PC/ HDMI out setup too :)

ps4 rumoured to be using HD6670 same as the Xbox720,Wiiu confirmed E6760/6770 hybrid. Look it up i say the 6770 rumours are to do with the E6760 having half the terraflops ie the rumour that Nintendo made the gpg run at 1 terraflop for UE4,the 6770 runs at 1.2 terraflops/6760 at 576 giggaflops basically half so think a E6760 that runs at 1 terraflop.

@metroid32 No its not,the only console to have that was the next xbox but that turned out to false after those leaked documents hit the net and Sony's rumored gpu is to have 1800 gflops of performance,that's either an underclocked radeon 7970m or a slightly cut down radeon 7870.

Most PC games already allow for controllers and they use the Xbox360 controller as their default. If a game doesn't support controllers, it usually means the game is too hard to play with a one. ex. Diablo 3, Starcraft 2, etc.

Instead of asking, "If they can add controllers..", you should be asking, "Will they still be allowing keyboards and mice?"

If they still allow keyboards and mice, people playing with controllers are in for a world of hurt for certain game genres. FPS's, RTS's, ARPG's, etc all perform better with mice. You simply cannot match the speed and accuracy of it and people playing with a controller will suffer huge disadvantages to those playing with a KB+M.

only MS being potentially affected? I mean if there is a new system coming on the market, you can bet that pretty much all existing systems and companies would be taking notice. Not just 1.

On a side note, it would be really funny if this new valve project is actually backed by MS.

As if Ms would not directly bow out but fund the development of another system with another company at the helm. It somewhat makes sense (in a strange way).

i mean MS designed xbox live in the way it is before Steam took a similar approach. So obviously the live layout was something of a blueprint for Steam to use to grow to what it is now. Even sony has studdied live and how it works.

People can be pissed at MS for who MS is but some of their ideas have gone on to help lay the groundwork for other companies today. No doubt there would be a PSN but perhaps it was the way MS made live that influenced Sony to develop PSN the way it is now. Same with Steam.

It doesn't matter how powerful it is. By simply running on desktop nVidia drivers, the rendering quality and image sharpness will be 5x better than any console, regardless of the graphics level settings.

"Can the Wii U keep up?" That is what I want to see, I really think it will because Nintendo have some worthwhile exclusives and the casual players will probably enjoy it. Nintendo are not rhino, they're doing what they always do so in this case, of course they'll succeed with the U.

Steam's main issue will be exclusive content and being digital only. Other than that they have pretty much everything else going for them. When it comes to smaller games and indie titles Steam is King. They also have the upper hand in value for software and software support (patches and fixes). What Microsoft will do to trump Steam is marketing. Steam doesn't have the retail penetration nor the marketing budget.

I myself would prefer Valve doing better than the other console makers but I have doubts they will be a major competitor outside of the already existing PC community.

Retail won't sell it if it's just a digital box to play your steam games on your tv. This will end up being just a niche product aimed at it's current users, it's mostly them who know what steam is. Valve will struggle for name recognition and retail space, which is a high premium. It would require billions from valve to establish it as a real competitor which they may not be willing to spend.

The steambox will steamroll the other consoles. I quit pc online gaming years ago because of the cheating and differences in performance of each persons pc. Id go back in a flash if the steambox can level the playing field.

The number of people that are signed into Steam fluctuates between 3 Million and 6 Million depending on the time of day. That number is currently at 5.3 Million and most people in the United States are either asleep or at work.

Seriously, Steam is hardly a niche market, and pretending that it is is ridiculous.

Your right, I would hardly call steam niche. It's user base ranges from super casual to ultra hardcore. I couldn't really see the ultra hardcore picking up this kind of thing since they would be more apt to want the most powerful system available, which means they'll build their own. The super casual may not bother with it because they may be perfectly content with however they play now and not see the need for it.

That leaves the middle of the road people. Quite likely a huge number. So lets assume half of them pick up a system, with about 50% more who never heard of steam picking it up. Is that still enough to sustain another viable system on the market?

Steam is popular, and I think they do a great job for the consumers, but they may face an uphill battle in gaining market share, especially going into a new console generation where competition is likely to get fierce. Unless the steamBox offers something that the end user can't get on the PC then what's really the point in owning one if your at least mildly tech minded?

Why wouldn't retailers sell it? Valve releases their own games at retail just like Sony and Microsoft do. Microsoft and Sony also have stores where you can download games. Valve has also released Steam Cards similar to PSN cards or Microsoft Points Cards.

The only difference between Steam and the others is that you don't need dedicated hardware to use Steam. I should also mention that there are games like Modern Warfare 3 and Black ops 2 for PC that are available at retail that use Steamworks, in which case you need to download the Steam Client to play the game.

This article sucks. Lot's of predictions, future telling and FUD. 3rd party games are going to be better on Steam Box? Says who? How do you know this? Steam online will be better? How do you know this? They have never had a home console. Many consumers are NOT PC gamers. They are CONSOLE gamers.

Joe six pack knows playstation, nintendo and xbox. He does not know Steam. Why would 3rd party games be the choice to buy on a new console nobody has heard of? Steam has been a PC only thing.

Me thinks we are going to have lot's of articles from PC people, that are now excited about consoles. Not saying the author of this article is like that, but I'm guessing lot's of PC only elitist that frown on consoles, are going to be all excited for console stuff.

It's going to be funny.

Don't get me wrong, Steambox could be a great console. Not sure what exclusives that everyone cries about will it have. But it should be a good gaming console. Sucks for our wallets. Now we have to get a 4th console.

im pretty sure it will just be a midrange fixed hardware pc so they can port the steam library to it. it's pretty much up to gabe if they are gonna put really goood hardware in it or just make pc gaming mora accessible to the masses by offering a cheap do it all solution.

I literally face palmed for the first time ever when the announcement came out a couple days ago. Not because of the concept, but because of all the comments. For the longest time PC gamers have been touting the virtues of PC's, only to come out and start saying how great a console is now going to be, even though it will be limited by most of the things that consoles are limited to now.

If SteamBox is priced the same as next gen consoles, which is reasonable to assume, there is no reason that the tech inside will be any better than what the others are offering. Valve has quite a bit of money in the bank, no doubt, but they can't afford to take a major hit on hardware just to provide the end user with a high-spec console.

I'm curious about it myself. The lack of physical media bothers me since I'm not a huge fan of DD, but I think the console has merit.

It'll be an interesting experiment and will be nice to see if a full DD platform can gain significant market share. I believe right now Sony, MS, and Nintendo are going to be looking at that statistic more than anything else. If the SB manages to get a foothold and leg up with a DD model, then next gen could really be the last gen for physical media.

They can't even get windows right. Glad it's selling 58% less than win7.

"According to Murphy, Microsoft only wanted Rare for their kiddie games, hence the Banjo spinoffs and no follow-ups to Perfect Dark outside of the niche fan-favorite Perfect Dark Zero. Don stated that it was Rare's versatility covering kids and adult games throughout the N64 and GameCube era that helped them stay relevant, but having a lot of their mature themed games shotdown created a negative atmosphere within the studio, causing a lot of key talent to part ways with the company." http://www.cinemablend.com/...

How is Steel Battalion working out? Remember that big as controller from the first one? lol kinect.

Lets see what happen next gen when kinect 2.0 is ready right from day 1.

I think it will sell well. A LOT of PC guys I know that refuse to purchase a console have all told me that they will without a doubt be supporting Valve's "console" (not really a console, but a trojan horse to put a PC in the living room) because of things like Valve's steam service, sales, and support.

I will be purchasing one. But then again I will also be purchasing the next Xbox and PS as well.

If you currently use steam 'big picture mode' beta you can already get a clear idea what it is. I must say its pretty neat for me since I hook up my PC to my TV. I'd say Steam will be pushing for more plug and play and default support with controllers and settings. I know alot of people that will buy a steam box now if the hardware represents good value

SONY has no Halo, Gears, Fable, or Mario, Zelda, day 1 sellers that warrant a midnight release. Also, SONY is having financial problems. SONY cant have a R&D fight & not recoup the funds because the market is thin.

Valve has: Half-Life & Steam. That isn't enough to excite the crowd. This is going to be a battle for them

Huh? You mention Forza but not GT which sold way more? And Fable which hasn't sold a huge amount? And not PSN?

MS has the most to lose from Steam who has had many of the Xbox "Exclusives", but where PC/PC monitor based. I don't know how many Xbox "Exclusives" were bragged about that were also on the PC. Now that "exclusive" on a console point that MS heavily leaned on is dead.

And while PSN has adopted a way more digitally focused feature set with PSN+, Live still is basically for playing Online like it was in 2005.. Live hasn't changed much at all except for adding streaming services. I can't believe how much they sat back while PSN gave users things like games, and are trying things like free Killzone 3 online.

That's not to say that Sony is doing great. But they are very well positioned for going more digital game wise than XBL IMO and have the studios and exclusive numbers to back them up.